The prior art is replete with various referrals to methods of treating hydrocarbons. These range from the technology during the depression to modern methods of treating hydrocarbons.
There are almost as many references to employing hydrogen in hydrogenation and hydrotreating aspects. Included are a couple of textbooks published right after World War II including "The Textbook of Organic Chemistry" by E. Wertheim, Second Edition, Blakiston Company, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, 1947, and "Uniprocesses in Organic Synthesis", Groggins, Editor, 3rd Edition, McGraw Hill, New York, New York, 1947. As pointed out in these texts, careful control of hydrogenation can give careful results. This application envisions employing such careful control.
The prior art has seen many ways of trying to achieve a food grade quality of white mineral oil but they have always been expensive and employed acid treatment, neutralization and an adsorption tower or the like for removing of undesired constituents to give the final product.
Specifically, the prior art has failed to provide an economical method of achieving a food grade quality white mineral oil without expensive and labor intensive steps such as acid treating, neutralization and absorbing of undesired constituents from the product.